LEGENDS: This is How Walls Crumble
by Catheryne
Summary: Chloe and Oliver begin to put their lives back together in their own private world.


LEGENDS: This is How Walls Crumble  
Pairing: Chlollie  
Characters: Chloe, Oliver, Dinah, Connor  
Rating: R  
Summary: Chloe and Oliver begin to put their lives back together in their own private world.  
AN: I was supposed to write about Lois in the aftermath of Ollie's failed attempt to take his daughter home, but Chlollie got a little out of hand. Know that I am a PG13 writer. However, the current plot development requires that I do this for the overall series.

**This is How Walls Crumble**

Of one quiet house in Star City, the world ended at the doorstep.

Once upon a time, in another life she lived, Chloe Sullivan had unplugged from the real world and survived only within the walls of the Watchtower. She had lived in data and breathed cold satellite linkages. The world outside had been nothing but a looming threat. What had once been her sanctuary had become her prison.

More and more, there had been no desire to step outside—where the world she researched was merely a horror story—one on top of the other.

The home they had built together was the same, and yet so very different.

"One of these days I'm going to watch over the team again," she had told him, and it was an understanding that they had come upon. Because that was what she had been meant to do, to be.

But not now, not when they were picking up shattered pieces and gluing them back together.

She supposed that if Clark saw her now, he would raise his eyebrows and quietly judge her. Chloe's back straightened defensively. It was a good thing that Clark was part of that real world that was, upon her agreement with Oliver, not allowed in her home for at least one week more.

"Call it a honeymoon," she said lightly. "Honeymooners don't entertain."

"Honeymooners take a month off, maybe more, and make a world of their own," Oliver reminded her. She loved his good, old traditional values. She would not have pegged Oliver as someone with conservative world views. After all, the Green Arrow's stance had much of the world pegging him as near-terrorist. But she had shaken off the presumptions of the rest of the world, and focused instead on the man before him. "Honeymoon requires getting married."

Chloe had laughed gently. He tried.

"Well, I want my honeymoon anyway."

Oliver's kisses, as he covered her body and their combined weight caused the mattress to dip, and the soft comforters to engulf them, proved to her that in their home was an entire planet all their own. She shivered when his hands moved to the outer sides of her thighs, taking away the chill of her skin and sending crawling heat pooling at her core.

"I can take time off work," he offered to her.

"No," she gasped, not at the subject he broached but at the sensation of him, hard and prodding, at her entrance.

"No?" he asked with a grin. He knew he had her. His hips coiled back, and Chloe bucked just a little to avoid the loss of contact. "While we're alone," he told her.

"Maybe for the day," she acquiesced. Chloe's lips curved, because he was going to win this once in a while, and she delighted that he figured out many of the little disagreements they resolved by a tease.

"Call in sick for me," he challenged her.

Chloe shook her head. She arched her back and kept her elbow over the side of the silk nightgown she wore to bed. The gown slipped, baring one pale, full breast to his view. She reached for the phone on the bedside table and dialled his work number. She heard the grunt and found him staring at her nipple. She held up a finger to her and said, "You want me to call for you, then you wait."

When his assistant answered, Chloe told her, "Mr Queen is out for the day."

And then she felt it. Warm. Wet. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the pillows. Holding the phone tight against her ear, Chloe bit her lip to keep from moaning. His tongue laved at the exposed nipple. Chloe buried her fingers in his hair.

His mouth trailed down. Chloe slapped a hand over her mouth as Oliver's mouth made dark marks on the silk.

"Yes," she said, when the assistant asked if she was to block calls from his phone. "No calls the entire day. Move his meetings to—" He drew the nightgown slowly up, over her hips, to flutter around her waist. Her eyes widened and she raised herself up on her elbows, then shook her head, silently telling him to wait.

But Oliver Queen smirked at her, that delightful lopsided grin she had dreamed about all those cold nights away. With a wink, Chloe watched in utter, horrified, enchanted fascination as the golden head dipped to kiss her hip, then move closer and closer to her. With a breath of release, her legs fell open to make room for him.

"Tuesday," she gasped.

He moved her legs over his shoulders and burned kisses in the insides of her thighs.

"I have to go," Chloe breathed. She dropped the phone back to the table and grabbed the headboard when she felt his tongue slide gently and part her lower lips. Chloe breathed through her mouth, relishing the sensation. "Ollie," she said. She had missed this, making love to him without a care in the world. They had only ever achieved this their first night away in that bed and breakfast when they were new lovers playing at their covert relationship. He worked her like an instrument. Chloe's hips moved under his mouth, and he held her back down and murmured into her. Her eyes closed at the vibration. "What did you say?" she breathed out.

She regretted the question when he raised his head and she lost his warmth. "I said, relax and enjoy."

But outside his assistant was fixing his schedule, and Dinah was finalizing details of a mission that would take her away for months. Clark was saving random people and the League was still tracking threats that were a decade old. Lois—

"No," he told her, reading her face like a marvel. "In this house, Chloe, the world stops at the doorstep."

Could it really?

"This house is a planet all for us," Oliver told her.

And it was. She realized when she walked through it later that day. Oliver had bought the home after his divorce, when Chloe returned. He could have survived in the hotel suite, but he had bought the home and picked one that was surrounded by a lot and trees to provide it privacy. And though she could not see them from the windows, she knew somewhere out there walls and gates secured them.

"Here, it's just us." His brown eyes were warm, liquid like honey. He held her gaze and said to her, "You and me."

At least, she thought, she could give him a world within those walls. Chloe nodded, and willed away the thoughts of everyone else, willed away visions of the other worlds that she had seen, willed away all their names except for one.

She released a long breath when he pushed inside her. Chloe felt her body yielding, spreading wide to accommodate his length. Her mouth latched onto the side of his neck as she held tight to him. Oliver surged forward, filling her until she felt like she could not breathe. "You're tight," he said to her.

Chloe gasped for breath. She could feel her balls against her, so deep was he inside of her. She splayed her hands over his back when he drew himself out slowly, excruciatingly, until he was halfway in her. And then he surged back inside.

"You're killing me," she groaned. But it was going to be the happiest death in the world.

This was their world, their planet. And it was the most beautiful prison she had ever been.

There was a quiet surge of panic inside of her. Beneath him, as beautiful and wonderful as he was, Chloe realized it could well be the beginning of everything that had nearly taken her over the edge. She was his inside of the walls. But he had another world out there, one where he was a hero, a billionaire. And here she was—

Perfectly content.

Her own mind fought against the very idea, like it was a curse. She needed some semblance of control.

And then she whispered in his ear, "I want—"

He pushed inside of her. His sweat dropped to her chest. "What do you want, Chloe?" She blinked up at him, and cupped his cheek, kissed the corner of his mouth. He read the request in her eyes and Chloe applauded the restraint he showed when he pulled out of her. He lay back on the bed.

This was not the first time, but it was the first since she came home. Chloe placed one leg over him until she was straddling him. She looked up at him uncertainly from beneath her lashes. Taking her cue, Oliver nodded and held on to hips. Chloe raised herself up by her knees then took him in his hand, then she guided him inside of her as she sank down.

Her heart soared when she saw the slow smile on his face.

Chloe moved over him. She arched her back and moved up and down his length. Beneath her, Oliver met her, thrusting inside her. Chloe threw back her head and felt his fingers drawing down her nightgown until it pooled around her waist. It was their own private planet, and she was unashamed to be nude before him in the light of day.

She breathed in the smell of his shampoo when he latched onto her breast. He bit her nipple and she saw the stars spark in her eyelids. She felt him movement grow faster, jerkier. She quickened her pace as well, burying her fingers in his back when the coil broke in her belly and she felt the tears pool in her eyes when she felt his white hot fluid spurt inside of her, filling her full until she dripped. Oliver's arms tightened around hers. She felt his hips jerk up a few more times. Chloe closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. They fell back onto the bed together, her on top of him, still joined.

With a breath of relief, Chloe fell onto the bed at his side and felt him pull her closer. He hiked one leg over hers. Chloe burrowed deep against him, dripping, warm, sated.

This was her world. Grand, secure, breathtaking.

His kisses felt like little butterflies dancing on her shoulder. Her fingers trailed down her side.

"Wednesday night there's a benefit for the Star City Library," he told her gently. "In the last few weeks I'd been so busy I didn't even see the invitation."

The last few weeks he had been obsessed finding a way to jump through time and space, deranged in his effort to find one pocket universe out of the billions that there were. But she would not remind him of that.

"It would give me the chance to flaunt you."

Chloe looked up at him. The image of the walls around their home slowly crumbled in her eyes. It was a silly fear, unwarranted. She had, after all, only been to the restaurant to meet Dinah. But the invitation came so perfectly on time she wondered if finally the universes came together to give them a free pass.

The world stopped at their doorstep, but it did not keep them away from joining time to time.

"You're asking me out on a date," she said in amusement, "while I'm naked and languid. Now I know why Queen Industries gained market share last fiscal year."

It did not matter that she had not seen the QI financial books for the last five years. Chloe knew even when she was lost, Oliver would never allow his family's legacy to falter in a rough economy. Too many charities depended on him. Too much of the workforce would suffer without him.

"I would have you know that the old coots I do business with give it up after one kiss," he taunted back.

Chloe nodded and placed a hand on his chest. "Do you think Lois already donated my clothes to Goodwill?" That was one thing she had not had time to ask. Then again, when and how does one ask how a loved one dealt with your death? "Seeing as how I am yet unemployed and penniless, I'm going to need to—"

"You're not serious," he said, his voice flat. Chloe eyed him. "We're not dating, Chloe." She did not know if she was going to be offended, but they were in their home and the judgment of the world did not apply. "You and I are not dating," he repeated. "You are not a guest. I am not your boyfriend."

"Ollie, you should get to the point," she warned.

"I hate talking about money," he muttered.

"Well tough luck, mister. You're Oliver Queen!" Chloe sat up on the bed and pulled her nightgown back over her shoulders to cover up. "Where is this even coming from? I was just trying to think of where my clothes were, if Lois stored them in the attic or something."

Oliver sighed. "You're not supposed to be worried about where old clothes are, or even about having or not having a paying job. You're not my girlfriend, Chloe. This isn't my house you're staying at." Her lips thinned. "That ring on the mantle proves it."

Chloe blinked. Oliver had started a fight. But then—

He ended it like that.

"You're not supposed to be concerned about money, Chloe. You're not supposed to worry about anything." He shook his head. "I hate having this talk." Oliver ran a hand through his hair.

And it wasn't even money, she realized.

"I hate that you still don't get that."

It was her security. In was about her place in his life.

And money was the easiest, most obvious way to address part of it. It would have been a stupid concern if it was not his. In their own little world nothing was silly.

Chloe moved out of the bed and padded barefoot across the bedroom, then bent to pick up his discarded pants. Oliver sat up and watched as she fished for his wallet. Like she was on a show, Chloe opened his wallet and slid out his black card. Very deliberately, she walked to her bag and dropped it there. Then, she turned to him.

Oliver grinned and held out his hand. Chloe went back to him and melted against him, kissing his lips. "Get an extension. Until then, it's a hostage in my purse."

Quietly, he said, "Wear the ring."

"I will," was her assurance.

The next day, Chloe and Oliver welcomed Connor into their home. While Oliver showed Connor the two dozen gift-wrapped boxes that Chloe had painstakingly arranged in the kid's bedroom, Dinah walked Chloe through Connor's vitamin and playdate schedule.

Halfway through week four of Dinah's list, Chloe closed her hand over the notebook and said, "You wrote all the instructions clearly. I think I can take it from here."

Dinah sighed, then closed the notebook and handed it to her. "Take care of him." And to that Chloe did not even need to respond. Dinah did not need her to either. "If anything happens—"

At this, Chloe frowned in concern. She was not Watchtower yet, but this was something that did not even need Watchtower's expertise. "Are you sure you don't need support? Clark—"

"This is for Birds to handle," Dinah assured her. "It should be easy—in and out. But you can't be too careful. Sometimes the best laid plans don't pan out the way you want them to."

Chloe knew that firsthand, when Oliver's rescue spiralled into her own living hell.

"So," Dinah continued, "if anything happens to me, Oliver will get Connor." Her voice was light when she said, "Wait five years before you let him call you mom. I might just appear out of nowhere."

"Dinah—" Chloe protested.

The other woman shook her head, then gave her a faint smile. "It was a joke. Oliver talked to me. He apologized, said he wanted Connor to be comfortable around you. So thank you for talking to him." Dinah shrugged. "The boy idolizes his father. He'd do anything Oliver wants."

And then, even though she thought they had not reached that point in their recovered friendship, Dinah moved to embrace her. Chloe hugged back, then heard, "Oliver just told me what happened to yours. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Chloe's chest tightened. "I'll see you in a couple of months, Dinah."

When Dinah walked into Connor's room, and took a seat on the bed, Chloe watched outside the door. Oliver squatted on the floor as Dinah spoke to her son and explained to him that she would not be able to pick him up for a while. Oliver punched Connor's arm, cheering the boy up with promises that they would have fun.

Oliver looked up and gestured to Chloe to come inside. From her post outside the bedroom, Chloe shook her head.

It was a family moment, one where Connor needed to understand from both his father and his mother that he was not being abandoned. Dinah did leaving far better than her mother ever did. At least Connor would not wake up in the morning realizing he was not wanted.

Even though the goodbye left Connor crying.

"You know what, Connor, I think Aunt Chloe knows where there are real bones of dinos here in Star City!"

Chloe turned to Dinah in surprise. Connor's tears slowed. He blinked at her. Chloe's brows arched. This time it was not Oliver trying to make a room for her in his son's life. This time it was Dinah who flung the door wide open.

"You want to go see the dino bones with Aunt Chloe?"

Chloe slowly ventured into the bedroom and took her place next to Oliver. Oliver's arm wrapped around her waist. She cleared her throat. "What do you say, Connor? You and me and daddy go to the natural history museum and check out those bones."

At the boy's eager response, Dinah released her breath. Chloe's gaze moved from Connor to Dinah, then gave her a small smile.

"Good luck," she said. Oliver kissed Chloe on the cheek and walked out of the room with Dinah. Chloe's eyes widened and said, "You know what, Connor? I know where there's a real farm with real animals. And you can run around and do whatever you want and the farmer won't mind. Let's ask daddy if we can go!"

fin


End file.
